The settlement is based around the
13th century church of the Holy Cross though there is evidence of a chapel site in the
8th century AD.

This is a rural community with a varied industry of
farming, framework knitting and shallow pit coal mining. A colliery
mine shaft was sunk in 1865 by the Clay Cross Coal and Iron Company (Morton
No.5) and a second mine was sunk in 1874 (Morton No.6). The colliery
closed in 1965.